Vijay, Udhayanidhi, Palaniswami take oath as MLAs in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, his nine Cabinet colleagues, Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, former Chief Ministers Edappadi K. Palaniswami (AIADMK) and O. Panneerselvam (now DMK) and 218 others took oath as members of the 17^th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Monday (May 11, 2026), in the presence of Pro-tem Speaker M.V. Karuppaiah.

Significantly, AIADMK senior member C.Ve. Shanmugam (who has been holding consultations with a large group of party MLAs) did not take oath on Monday.

Later in the day, Thousand Lights MLA J.C.D. Prabhakar was nominated by the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam government for the post of the Speaker of the 17^th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The Chief Minister handed over the papers nominating him for the post to the Assembly Secretary K. Srinivasan.

Mr. Vijay also handed over papers nominating Thuraiyur MLA M. Ravisankar for the post of Deputy Speaker. The election for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House is scheduled at 9.30 am on May 12 (Tuesday).

The strength of the House is 233 following the resignation of Mr. Vijay from his second seat, Tiruchi East.